Toronto's Game 7 Gut Punch

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This year will mark the 10-year anniversary of the week that two of the most famous Those Games played out within days of each other. You don’t even need to describe the games. You just need a pair of names: Aaron Boone and

.

Red Sox fans and Cubs fans used to sit at the head table of the club. The Cubs are still there. The Red Sox got out, and they won’t be coming back for a generation or two, if ever.

And that’s the beauty of all this, the one saving grace that gives you the will to go on. There is a ticket out of this club, and we all know what it is: When your team wins a championship, you get to take a torch to your team’s pile of Those Games.

That’s where the hope comes in. It’s knowing that sometimes you get the Bartman game, a kick in the groin that serves no purpose beyond reminding you that you’re in the club and that sports will never make you happy. But sometimes you get the Boone game, that one last failure to toss on the pile before the big bonfire. Redemption might be coming, even if you don’t know it yet.

This Boston Bruins team had their own Boone game. In 2010, they blew a 3-0 series lead to the Flyers. The decisive loss came in Game 7, in Boston, when they coughed up a three-goal lead, which all sounds strangely familiar. It was a collapse for the ages, maybe the greatest in hockey history, destined to be talked about forever. And then the Bruins went out and won the Stanley Cup in 2011. Nobody talks about 2010 anymore.

That’s the only positive thing a sports fan can hold on to after a game like Monday night's. When you watch your team lose one of Those Games, you’re never sure if it's going to be a Boone game or a Bartman game.

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We've had our share of Those Games, but we've been lucky enough to see 3 Cups in between. Reading that made me feel thankful I'm a Devils fan (although its 40 years and counting for the Dolphins, so I'm thinking we should be allowed in the Club soon, if we're not in already lol).

Reminded me of Game 7 against Carolina. I never want to think of that again.

I was there. I don't think I've ever run through so many emotions as a sports fan as I did that day. The walk back to my car and then the ride back home just seemed endless. No one seemed to know how to react. I think I laughed at first.

The 2006 AFC Championship Game (Pats-Colts) was a brutal one too. When Peyton threw a pick-6 that led to NE being up 21-3, it seemed like there was no way the Colts would come back...but then Peyton went nuts and the Colts finally got past the Patriots. My feelings were much the same that day.

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I was there. I don't think I've ever run through so many emotions as a sports fan as I did that day. The walk back to my car and then the ride back home just seemed endless. No one seemed to know how to react. I think I laughed at first.

The 2006 AFC Championship Game (Pats-Colts) was a brutal one too. When Peyton threw a pick-6 that led to NE being up 21-3, it seemed like there was no way the Colts would come back...but then Peyton went nuts and the Colts finally got past the Patriots. My feelings were much the same that day.

Even so, as sh&#33;tty as those were...I don't ever think or care about 2009 anymore. It's because I have seen victory. I've reached the pinnacle as a fan. And at that moment, I could relive 95, 2000 and 2003 in my head or with DVDs or whatever. For fans of teams like Toronto and the Bruins fans before 2011, and Buffalo or Vancouver...they don't have that ability.

So as the article talks about all these losses being burnt when you finally win, I think I can burn many of the losses after winning...because I've gotten to enjoy that. How long does or will that last...I'm not sure.

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Well I don't really care about 2009 because of 2012, at least until the next time we play the Canes in the playoffs. But at that point, I wasn't thinking about the three Cups, more about the legacy of failure post-lockout and how that was supposed to be our year to at least make a deep run when Clemmensen magically led us to the division title.

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I was there. I don't think I've ever run through so many emotions as a sports fan as I did that day. The walk back to my car and then the ride back home just seemed endless. No one seemed to know how to react. I think I laughed at first.

The 2006 AFC Championship Game (Pats-Colts) was a brutal one too. When Peyton threw a pick-6 that led to NE being up 21-3, it seemed like there was no way the Colts would come back...but then Peyton went nuts and the Colts finally got past the Patriots. My feelings were much the same that day.

I can't share your Pats pain as a big (and clearly insane) Jets fan, but I definitely laughed after the 2009 game. I really just could not believe how that all turned around. I can vividly remember walking out of the arena and to Penn Station just shaking my head and chuckling at times.

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Reminded me of Game 7 against Carolina. I never want to think of that again. I was there. I don't think I've ever run through so many emotions as a sports fan as I did that day. The walk back to my car and then the ride back home just seemed endless. No one seemed to know how to react. I think I laughed at first.The 2006 AFC Championship Game (Pats-Colts) was a brutal one too. When Peyton threw a pick-6 that led to NE being up 21-3, it seemed like there was no way the Colts would come back...but then Peyton went nuts and the Colts finally got past the Patriots. My feelings were much the same that day.

I was there too, and I'm with you CR- I've never seen such a wide range of emotions in reacting to a loss. Some people were stunned, just sitting in their seats and staring straight ahead and not really saying anything, some were raging, yelling every four-letter word under the sun while tossing their towels in anger... I myself was stunned at first when the final horn sounded. After a minute, I got up, walked out, went to the mens room, and repeatedly punched a garbage can. When I was done, I kicked the garbage can multiple times. This was all done while I mindlessly yelled obscenity after obscenity at no one in particular. No one looked at me funny. No one thought I was acting out of line. One guy even looked at me when I was done and said "bro... I feel you. Totally". THAT'S how bad of a loss that one was. I usually never act out my anger at the game as I would at home after a loss, but that one was different. There was just no way I was keeping it in that night.
Edited May 16, 2013 by MadDog2020

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I was there too, and I'm with you CR- I've never seen such a wide range of emotions in reacting to a loss. Some people were stunned, just sitting in their seats and staring straight ahead and not really saying anything, some were raging, yelling every four-letter word under the sun while tossing their towels in anger... I myself was stunned at first when the final horn sounded. After a minute, I got up, walked out, went to the mens room, and repeatedly punched a garbage can. When I was done, I kicked the garbage can multiple times. This was all done while I mindlessly yelled obscenity after obscenity at no one in particular. No one looked at me funny. No one thought I was acting out of line. One guy even looked at me when I was done and said "bro... I feel you. Totally". THAT'S how bad of a loss that one was. I usually never act out my anger at the game as I would at home after a loss, but that one was different. There was just no way I was keeping it in that night.

I was in that category, well not so much at the arena (I maybe vented for ten/fifteen seconds) but I zombie-walked to the light rail/train and had the blankest look on my face the whole ride back. Don't remember even saying a word after the final buzzer. Definitely didn't sleep a lot that night.

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Even so, as sh&#33;tty as those were...I don't ever think or care about 2009 anymore. It's because I have seen victory. I've reached the pinnacle as a fan. And at that moment, I could relive 95, 2000 and 2003 in my head or with DVDs or whatever. For fans of teams like Toronto and the Bruins fans before 2011, and Buffalo or Vancouver...they don't have that ability.

So as the article talks about all these losses being burnt when you finally win, I think I can burn many of the losses after winning...because I've gotten to enjoy that. How long does or will that last...I'm not sure.

Must be nice, I'm reminded of 2009 every single day because my steering wheel has been slightly bent ever since from the beating it took once I got to my car.

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Must be nice, I'm reminded of 2009 every single day because my steering wheel has been slightly bent ever since from the beating it took once I got to my car.

One of my knuckles has never looked right since I punched something after that game. I was fairly drunk, which didn't help in any way, except my hand didn't really hurt and I don't recall what I punched, lol. Stunned is a perfect description of how I felt as it happened though. I was so shocked by the first goal from Staal, which forced my head into my hands, so I could think, "damn, now we have to go to overti...", when I then barely saw Jokinen's goal through my fingers.......